A look at our successful Keystone State Games baseball teams

In case you missed it in my Boys of Summer column in Sunday's print edition of The Morning Call, here's a look at our Lehigh Valley entries in the Keystone State Games that fared quite well recently in the Harrisburg area with the scholastic team winning the silver and the junior division team winning the bronze. The combined effort earned the local guys the Karwoski Cup signifying the best overall region in KSG baseball.

Here's a look at the juniors:

And here's the recap of the juniors games:

This year the Keystone Junior team finished with a bronze medal and a hard earned one at that. In pool play the team finished 4-2 including two come from behind victories against Delaware Valley (Game 1) and Pocono (Game 6) where the team rallied to an 8-7 win after being down 7-1 going into the 6th inning. In our two losses the team never gave up rallying back from a 5-1 deficit against West to a 5-3 final and even more impressive fighting back against Nittany in the 6th inning to force an extra inning contest loss of 8-7.

Game-by-Game

DVL -- The squad earned a victory in a very unlikely fashion as miscommunication between DVL outfielders allowed winning run Tyler Schreiner (Northwestern Lehigh) to score from second for a 6-5 final. This was made possible by a dominant performance from pitcher Cody Masters (Emmaus) who was brought in in the 4th to relieve starter Nate Kitchell. Key hits in the game came from Nate Markowicz (Parkland) and Jake Morgan (Liberty).

BMT -- The entire team contributed in this game backed by an impressive on the mound by starter AJ Denny (Stroudsburg) who went 5 innings allowing just one run in the 12-1 victory. Offensively each player contributed during this game once again lead by Jake Morgan (Liberty) who had 4 RBI's and two runs scored alone.

CAP -- This was a key game for LV by opening up day 2 with another tough match up set later in the afternoon. The team responded by posting a score of 8-3 highlighted by another great pitching performance by Matt Mellinger (Parkland) and relieved by Mike Jenkins (Parkland) in the 7th.

WEST -- Always the toughest opponent in the tournament West came out the gates early putting up 3 runs in the first two innings with no response. LV repsonded with 2 of their own in the 5th before West put the final two runs up in the top of the 6th. The team managed just one more run before suffering the 5-3 defeat. Throughout the entire game the team showed a sense of urgency and never once gave in.

NIT – Saturday morning brought another tough opponent in Nittany. Nittany jumped out early to put 5 unanswered runs on the LVL squad. With defeat almost imminent in the 6th inning the team rose to the occasion putting up 5 runs to tie the game. They then kept the game going fighting to tie the game at 6 and then 7-7 until Nittany put the final run on the board in the bottom of the 8th to give LVL their second loss. Most notable in the game was a stellar performance on the mound by Matt Dobeck (Whitehall) and hitting performances from Tyler Schreiner (Northwestern), Tyler Horvath (Pocono Mt.), Nate Kitchell (Stroudsburg), and CJ Peechatka (Pocono Mt.) who played a key part in the 5 run comeback.

POC -- Undoubtedly the most exciting game of the tournament, the boys found themselves down by 6 runs going into the 6th inning with a score of 7-1. The offense then went to work putting up 3 runs in the bottom of the sixth (7-4) and loading the bases for a walk-off basehit by Emmett McCauley (Stroudsburg). AJ Denny and Nate Kitchell (both Stroudburg) combined in a phenomenal relief effort holding Pocono to only 3 runs after the 3rd inning. As the winning run crossed the plate the team charged out of the dugout to pile onto the game winning hitter Emmett McCauley knowing that they had just earned a berth into the bronze medal game.

BRONZE GAME -- The team came into the morning ready to play as they responded to an early first run with 3 of their own. They then added 2 more in the 5th to seal the 5-3 victory. Capital would not go quietly as they ended the game with runners on the 2nd and 3rd in an attempt to tie it up. Pitching performances from Mike Jenkins (Parkland), Cody Masters (Emmaus) and Tyler Horvath (Pocono Mt.) were the reason capital were unable to get back into the game

Unlike last year, the LVL Scholastic Team opened strong with an impressive 6-4 win on Thursday night over Blue Mountain. LVL rode the experienced arm of left hander Nick Dominici (Pleasant Valley) who battled for 6 1/3 innings before closer Bryce Crum (Whitehall) sealed the deal for the LVL Squad. Will Stackhouse (Northampton) was the offensive hero for LVL; going 3 for 3 with 2 RBI’s…

LVL rallied from a 2 run deficit in game #2 against rival Delaware Valley – scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning. The walk off single was provided by Isaac Neal (Parkland). LVL battled hard behind an impressive pitching performance by Luke Hohenstein of Pocono Mountain East, who also added 3 hits to help his own cause.

The LVL team came out swinging in Game #3 Friday night vs. Nittany by posting a 15 -1 win. Evan McAndrew (Parkland) pitched 5 strong innings for LVL and was supported by a 13 hit LVL offensive onslaught. Mike Luke (Notre Dame GP), Isaac Neal (Parkland), Tyler Bruno (Parkland), and Gianni Sinatore (Whitehall) each had 2 hits for the winners.

The LVL Team (3-0) battled hard on Saturday morning against a very experienced and also undefeated Harrisburg Capitals Team but came up on the short end of a 1-0 loss behind an impressive 5 hit pitching performance by Notre Dame GP’s Zach Luke… LVL could only manage 4 hits against the eventual Gold Medal winning CAPs, who again defeated the well balanced and scrappy LVL Team 4-3 on Sunday in the Championship Game …

In Game 5 – Moravian Academy’s Tanner Shane pitched a gem to secure LVL’s position in the Gold Medal contest. The crafty left hander kept a very competitive WEST (Pittsburgh) Team off balance by scattering 7 hits and striking out 4 in an LVL 5-4 win. Nick Dominici (Pleasant Valley) and Ian Csencsits (Northampton) each drove in key runs for LVL.

This event represented the 9th consecutive year that an LVL Baseball Team has medaled at the Keystone State Games – and the second year in a row that both the Junior and Scholastic Teams have been recognized with medal winning performances. The LVL Junior Team earned the Silver Medal in 2013, and the Bronze this past week – 2014 yielded the opposite results with the LVL Scholastic squad capturing Bronze in 2013 and Silver in 2104.

Just a great team effort and an event more energizing experience for this group of young players who plan to be back in 2015 to defend their titles!